Milwaukee, WI – Custom Halo Lit Color Change Channel Letters for Mixed Use

This was a fun project that took over two years to go from concept to completion, but it was worth every minute.

We started about three months before the new development broke ground.  Our customer had hired a general contractor with whom we had some history, and they wanted something like nothing else in downtown Milwaukee.  They wanted the real POP, the sign, to stand out and grab the attention of everyone that went by.  Ok, that’s a big ticket, especially when you realize the letters we used were just under 48” tall.

We started working with the designers on the project to identify which font they wanted. We tried dozens of fonts but settled on an artist font as it was precisely what the owner wanted.  Something different.  We then altered the font to create the artistic “Y” and the “H.” A very cool look.  Scaling them to size put the overall height at 46,” and the letter “M” was almost 60” wide!  So now we have a look that the customer wanted, so how do we complete the look? We decided to go with a halo-lit set of channel letters with an oxidized bronze face.  The bronze faces match the window and door frames of the building, and the halo lighting is always a very classy look.  But again, there are many businesses in downtown Milwaukee that have halo-lit channel letters; how can we make these different? How about we use RGB programmable LEDs? The programmable LED’s would have a programmable interface that allows the customer to choose a color or set the LED’s to random colors.  Cool, right? So our customer wanted the programmable LED’s.

All the designs were finalized, and the letters manufactured with the LED’s going through a quality check to make sure all the wiring was correct and stable.  And it was.  Now on to the exciting part, installation.

When we reviewed the design plans, we knew we would have to drill through about 4” of the façade.  It was made of construction foam, so that wouldn’t be a problem.  The frame of the façade gave us the support we needed to anchor to, or so we thought.  A slight variation in the plans moved a concrete pillar directly behind the façade.  Oh boy.  And, of course, we can’t drill through support concrete because it could weaken the structure.  Our general contractor had a way to snake the wiring around the 3’ concrete obstruction and complete the wiring of the sign.

The installation took just over three days with a crew of two people.  But you should have seen the look on the owner’s face when we turned up the sign and ran it through the colors. He was ecstatic.

If you have a larger project that you want to deliver the POP, please give us a call. We can help with your project from design to installation.  We can be reached at 262.289.9481 or email us at info@optimumsignswi.com.  We would love to help.